Big Bertha: My own build of the Stainless Ox, 1500 x 1200mm

Builder

I haven't done much yet. I just bought a bunch of stuff, but it feels like the bulk load of the work was in buying things, because it took a long time to figure out how everything went together and what to buy. I went with the Stainless Ox because I believe that for the cost, I'll get the best option for repeatability over a large surface area, which is imperative as my average builds will be 840 x 840mm.

Builder

Today I completed the gantry assembly. (Quickly put on the back rail after the video was over, lol).

Quite a learning experience. Building the Y frame should hopefully be a little less effort, and I'm hoping to be doing my calibration by next Friday.

I've spent a lot of my time learning the specifics of machining. Speeds, feeds, choice of bits, among other things. After this is done, all I need to do is learn to design things, haha! I'm very excited. This is a very involved hobby that I'm glad I've started.

Builder

Good news. I have completed wiring. The control board is all set up and ready, and so is the Mach3 software. I have a 'bumping' noise when I execute G code to move the Z axis. I suppose that is because the leadscrew is misaligned in some way. Probably an easy fix anyway.

All I have left is to:
- Calibrate the axes and spend time testing to make sure everything is nice and square
- Secure my base and spoil board, level the spoil board and get some tee nuts in it
- Cut some basic clamps that I can use
- Run an overhead vacuum for my waste filtration system / get some sort of good dust shoe (maybe 3D printed?)
- And purchase some good quality collets and bits for my projects

Once I'm done with that, I think I will have a pretty good quality CNC Router ready to run. It's starting to feel like I'm through most of the work for this machine. It's been an incredible thing to learn. I hope that machining is something that I will pick up on well, and will be able to make many cool things.

I will have to take some pictures of this setup. It's not very well organized, and I should change some of the messy work I have done. But it works.

Builder

I'm gonna level the spoil board later today. Everything seems to be running nice. I'm finding that I have some dimensional issues when I cut MDF, with accuracy of +/- 1mm, perhaps it's because of the feedrate. Nonetheless, cutting acrylic leads to... more acceptable results:

I mean, hey, it'll do.

I have to figure out exactly how I'm going to mount my dust hose, as I don't have a lot of room. Everything seems to be going very well, and I couldn't be happier with the system. Big thanks to Martin for all his help. He's been very helpful in spite of my inexperience, and very frequent questions.